DARK
by blindrepata
Summary: One story about what could happen after Blindspot episode 4x10
1. Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Reade needed to find Zapata, and the only person she could count on was Caudia. It would be very risky to involve the team in this searcht. Along with Claudia, he got a clue as to where she would be. They had been driven all afternoon and it had been dark for about three hours. They were arriving at the site tracked as being the blacksite that she would be being held.  
When they arrived at the place indicated the two dressed their masks and went down in the darkness. The place looked like an abandoned shed. They found a door and broke into it, avoiding making noise. There was a guard against the wall, and Claudia stopped him. Reade followed with Claudia on her back. There was no noise at the scene and they found what looked like a door, they unlocked the door and there was a table with a guard, Reade hit his head with his gun and fainted the guard. Claudia showed that there was another door that could be where Tasha would be.  
Reade came in and there she was, lying on the floor, unconscious, her clothes was dirty, and there was blood on her face. He felt a mixture of compassion, relief, and pain. He came over and found she was breathing.  
"Zapata! Hey, can you hear me? "He called softly close to her ear.  
He saw her move her head and murmur something unintelligible. Reade took her in his arms to get her out. She spoke again.  
"Reade ... Is that you?" She spoke so softly that he could barely hear her. - Forgive me...  
"It's all right. We'll get you out of here." She was silent again.  
The three of them left and went back to the van heading for New York.  
Claudia drove and Reade stayed with Tasha in the backseat. She had her head on his lap and hadn't opened her eyes or said anything else since leaving the shed. Her breath was tired and she looked so fragile that Reade couldn't recognize the strong, determined woman she was. That same woman he fell in love with and trusted with all his life. The one he held in his arms and he loved with all his soul.  
Reade had done everything he could to find her, not only because he told her that he would be commanding her mission instead of Keaton, but because of everything they had already lived and felt for each other. He had been very hurt when she told him that she was working undercover for the CIA, because of what they had lived through, for all they had built over the years, he thought it unfair that she hadn't told him. Damn, she knew she could trust him. But the CIA was the CIA.

Reade was in the waiting room some time ago when the doctor on duty came to talk to him.  
"She's very weak, but she's stable, we've taken care of the injuries and medicated her. If you want to get in she should wake up soon." The doctor told him.  
Reade entered the room and saw her so serene lying on the hospital bed, her clothes had been changed and the facial wound was a cut on the forehead that had been cleaned and bandaged. He came over and took her hand. How did this happen to her? She was so fragile. He didn't even want to think what might have happened if he didn't find her.  
It had been about half an hour since he was with her, he pulled the chair up from the bed and stood beside her holding her hand when he saw she open her eyes.  
Tasha opened her eyes and took a moment to realize where she was, then saw him by her side. A thousand things went through her mind, and she vaguely remembered hearing Reade and been loaded into a car. She had been tortured and told them everything but they didn't believe her, so they continued to torture her until she lost all her strength and couldn't continue, she was giving herself up, because there was no point in keeping alive, for everything she believed was going down. She had lost Reade's trust, Keaton in a coma, and the CIA didn't believe her, Madeline had probably found another way to knock that plane down.  
Seeing Reade there beside her, her heart filled with joy, but at the same time she knew he wouldn't trust her anymore, after all he was right, she wasn't trustworthy, for he had placed the mission in front of your whole life. She knew she could have trusted him, but it would be too risky to put him in danger. The loneliness she felt each day she was working undercover was immense, the urge to call him, to tell, to talk, to hear a friendly voice.  
"Hello. It's okay, we're in the FBI, you're being cared for". When his eyes met, he saw relief in her eyes. He couldn't even imagine everything she had gone through, all the torture, the pain in her body and soul, there was no one there for her, he wasn't there, the loneliness she must have felt, it was too much for him to know that they could have the killed her.  
"Reade, they didn't believe me. I told them the whole truth, but it was all in vain, they hurt me, if you hadn't arrived..." In her voice he could see all the pain she was feeling. A tear trickled from her eyes.  
"I'm here and I won't let them close to you again. Never. Hear? Never." Reade touched her cheek and wiped the tear from her eyes. He took her hand to his lips and kissed it affectionately.  
Tasha couldn't express the amount of relief she felt at Reade's affectionate gestures. When he touched her face she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be carried away by all the sensations that touch had. He kissed her hand and she felt that maybe all wasn't lost, maybe they still had a chance to restore what they had lived and that at that moment seemed so far away but at the same time so close because he was there beside her.


	2. Chapter 2

The street was deserted and dark, she wore a hooded overcoat and looked unrecognizable. She couldn't risk being seen, for she had left everything for this mission and wouldn't ruin everything now, but she needed to take those papers to him, she couldn't send them by email or any other means of communication. It was too risky. Tasha kept scurrying through the dark alleys of New York City until she reached her destination. She hadn't seen him for more than two months, they had exchanged half a dozen words about it three times in that time, but only on the mission.  
After Reade had rescued her from the CIA prison and taken her to the hospital they hadn't talked, she knew he was angry, because it was very clear the day he arrested her in Mexico. The distance he set was very painful, but she didn't take his reason, because the betrayal was too great and even wanting to tell him everything from the beginning she knew she couldn't. She only revealed why she was pressured and also because she needed help since Keaton was in a coma.

Reade was lying down, but couldn't sleep, it was past midnight, he was worried about Tasha. Several days ago she didn't car and didn't give any news about the mission. He was really upset when she told him that he was working for Madeline, she was his best friend and he always considered her too much, he trusted her more than he trusted the people of his own family and she couldn't tell him what he was doing. Deep down he knew how the CIA worked, that they wanted to be secretive about this sort of thing, but with him her secret would be safe and he could have helped whatever she needed.

They had nothing else, for he had made it clear during the interrogation, he knew he had hesitated and told things that hurt her and now it was very difficult to turn back. Although he revealed his emotions a little when she was in the hospital he knew that the barrier he created was still erected and it would be very difficult to overcome it, it would take a lot of time to recover what they once had and he didn't know if it would be possible.  
Immersed in his thoughts he heard a knock at the door. He got up and went to open it. Reade barely recognized her in her overcoat and hood.  
"Reade, it's me." She spoke softly, but he could feel the emotion in her voice.  
"Come in." He opened the door fully and let her inside.  
She took off her hood and he could catch a glimpse of her face. She was as beautiful as ever and memories came in her mind, sweet and nostalgic memories of everything that lived.  
"I came to bring these papers. Here are all the clues about the time and place of the plane crash." She said taking a large envelope out of her pocket and handing it to him.  
"Are you alright? You haven't made contact for days." He asked struggling not to let the thrill of seeing her betray his words.  
"Yes. I'm just being more careful, because there are too many people around Madeline and I'm too scared to be discovered."  
"Do you want to abort the mission? We already have the flight information, we can continue from here."  
"I can't, Madeline would instantly mistrust and change the plans."  
"You're taking too much risk. I'm afraid …" He was interrupted by her.  
" I have to go. No one can distrust where I am or ruin everything." She said sadly, because she didn't want to go so fast. She turned her back and went through the door.  
"Tasha!" He called her.  
"Yes." She turned and faced him.  
"Take care!" He gave her a faint smile of encouragement.  
Tasha just nodded her head and walked out of the building and into the darkness of the back alleys of New York.

After she left, Reade returned to her room, but couldn't sleep because her presence was too strong. How foolish he had been! Her willingness to hold her and comfort her and show her how much he missed her and also to confirm if she felt the same lack of him. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and how much he wanted her to be well, but after everything he said to her she was afraid of being rejected. He didn't want to lose her. She was what mattered most to him, but he saw no way to rescue everything they had.

For her part, Tasha was in her dark room, but she couldn't sleep. Seeing Reade made her relive everything they spent together. Going to his apartment was very painful, the memories of the night spent together came into her mind and she was afraid she wouldn't hold back, but the words he told her at the interrogation resounded inside her and kept her from talking or doing anything exceeded the limits established by him.


	3. Chapter 3

The day came when Madeline tried to take down the plane.

It was dawn and Reade was asleep. It had been two weeks since Tasha had come to his apartment to get information about the flight Madeline wanted to bring down. Reade had handed over everything to Patterson that she had verified and really were true. He had no way of getting in touch with Tasha, so he was always waiting for her to give him some news. He got scared with his cell phone ringing.  
"Hello." Reade answered the sleepy cell phone.  
"It's me. I don't have much time." It was Tasha on the other end. He can hear her affliction.  
"Yeah. Is everything okay?" Reade was relieved to hear her voice.  
"I'm going to give the place number so the objects are left today. Can you write it down?" She passed the numbers and he wrote down quickly.  
"We left there today without fail. He assured her.  
"It's ok. I need to hang up."  
"Wait!" He wanted her to know, because he couldn't stand the distance between them. Every day was a torture away from him, Reade could not wait to meet her again. He wanted to apologize and tell her how important she was, how much he wanted to be by her side. "I miss you." He missed hearing her laugh, her complaints, her unsteady mood, feeling her presence fill the environment wherever she was.  
Tasha on the other end of the line felt her heart pound at the words. Reade was one of the reasons she continued this work. She wanted it to end, but she wanted to return with dignity, with the sense of accomplishment, did not want to return without being able to solve anything.  
"I miss you to." She spoke with emotion in her voice. "I need to hang up."

Reade couldn't sleep any more, five days before the flight Madeline intended to overthrow, he spent the rest of the night going over the whole plan in his head, he needed to make sure everything would work out.  
The day had come. Reade arrived at SIOC and went straight up his room. Patterson noticed his affliction and went there.

"Hey, what's going on?"  
"It's today, Patterso! What if something goes wrong?" Reade, who was sitting, stood up.  
"I know you're all over Tasha. We have everything under control. Let's do everything we can to make sure nothing's wrong. Weller and Jane will be there with you and will have reinforcements, if need be."  
"What if Madeline suspects. I can not even imagine what she would do with Tasha! I shouldn't have sent her back."  
"Look, I know how you must be feeling, but you have to trust Tasha!" She knows what she's doing, she knows what she's up to, and today more than ever she needs us with her head in place to do whatever it takes to make it work." Patterson was trying to comfort Reade, but she was also in distress, she knew her friend was in trouble and the danger she was running.  
"Has the device already been activated?"  
"Not yet, so far we had received no signal. Rich is watching and as soon as we identify, we'll let you know."  
"Get the team together and we'll be ready to leave as soon as we get the signal."

Reade had left the device for Tasha in a Mailbox in Brooklyn according to the coordinates she'd been through. Patterson had sent her an encrypted message about the device. It was hard to be sure she'd gotten it so they were more distressed, for Tasha could not leave Madeline if the device was not deployed, that would be the key to overthrowing the whole company.  
Tasha hadn't even slept that night, she'd practically rolled up on the bed the night before and barely closed her eyes. She did not even feel so tired, so anxious for it to end soon. She needed an opportunity to enter the company's control room and place the device sent by the FBI. This device would allow all information exchanged between computers and mobile devices from HCI Global, including tablets and cell phones from Madeline.  
She managed to get into the room and put the device in and was running out of time, because she needed to go to the airport soon. Along with the device they also sent her a point so they could communicate that they would only be activated when they arrived at the airport.

"Reade, it's time! Tasha activated the device!" Patterson came into Reade's room almost screaming.  
The team was assembled and a helicopter with two officers would be stationed in a strategic location if they needed to leave in a hurry. The intention was to stop the plane from falling and bring Tasha back. Reade had promised himself he would not leave her on this mission even a minute after that. He shouldn't have let her go back, it was getting too risky. He did not know how she was getting between these people.  
Patterson and Rich accompanied everything through a van parked outside the airport equipped with trackers and wiretaps. Reade, Kurt and Jane were disguised as passengers on the plane. The passengers were already on board and the commander gave the last instructions to the crew.  
Everything that happened next passed very fast, like a blur. At Patterson's signal, Kurt and Jane entered the control center of the plane to find a bomb that would have been dropped by Madeline's staff. Reade headed toward the cabin to warn the commander not to take off.

The bomb was disarmed at the last minute as instructed by Patterson. Rich warned that he had lost touch with Tasha. Reade had already intercepted the commander who had stopped the plane in the middle of the runway. There was no sign of Tasha's listening.  
Tasha had managed to pass some information on the location of the bomb to the team and by the time scheduled she realized that it had been disarmed. She was in a compartment of the airport control room and was already leaving to find the staff when she felt a hand cover her mouth. It was immobilized and taken from there by force. Dominic withdrew the weapon that was with her and placed his weapon on her back and ordered her to silence or shoot. He found the listening and destroyed it. She had no choice but to obey.  
The hearing had been discovered by Madeline's people who had instructed Dominic to take Tasha and take her to her, since she wanted to take her life personally. Tasha's salvation would be to hope that the team would miss her and try to find her, but perhaps they thought that she had really betrayed them and would return to Madeline.

Reade had called Weller and Jane to find Tasha, for they didn't want to believe she had brought them. They followed Patterson and Rich's instructions from where it was the last place they could contact her. They followed the trail and managed to see a man with Tasha at his side. Reade moved slowly so he would not notice.  
Reade wanted to shoot the man, but they had to use their heads to make anything happen to Tasha.  
"Tasha!," Reade called.  
They both stopped and Dominic turned and made her turn as well.  
"If you do not follow my orders I'll kill you and then I'll kill him." Dominic told her to listen.  
"Tell him who you're going to!" Doninic ordered.  
"I'm going with him, Reade, I'm going to continue my work with Madeline. It is not enough for both of us and you know it. With Madeline I found my place." She tried to pass judgment on what she was talking about.  
"You heard. Go away! She is going where her place is, where she is welcomed." Reade couldn't see the gun, for Dominic had hidden it.  
Everyone was startled when a shot echoed in the air and Dominic fell to the ground pulling Tasha with him. Reade rushed over to them and saw that the shot hit Dominic in the head. The shot had come from Jane who was hiding waiting for an opportunity to shoot. Weller and Jane rushed to meet them.  
Tasha was very frightened by the shot and Dominic ended up knocking him down, when he realized he had been hit she got up quickly and saw Reade in front of her. She couldn't not to do nothing but run to and hug him. She was grateful that they did not give up on her, for a moment she thought they would have left and thought she had brought them.  
Reade hugged Tasha who began to tremble in his arms, he squeezed her tightly and spoke comforting words to calm her down. When Reade thought that he could lose her, he had a movie in his head about the two of them so far, he didn't want to waste any more time in his life, because they had already run too far from each other.  
Tasha felt his arms wrap around her, she was panicking, for the possibility of having to go back to Madeline terrified her. With Reade hugging her everything would be all right. She knew she would never have to go back to her disguise, she could live like a normal person without pretense and without the terror that plagued her every day for fear of being discovered.


	4. Chapter 4

Tasha was watching TV waiting for sleep to arrive, she had already gone to bed, but she got up and went into the living room. She was in the safe house, couldn't go to her apartment, it wasn't safe, she never knew what Madeline would be able to do to get her. After the confrontation at the airport they went to the FBI and Reade drove her along with two agents to a location where Madeline had no way to find her, gave her an irratable phone and left hers at the FBI. Patterson went with an agent to Tasha's house and brought her clothes and personal belongings. The place was very impersonal, cold and colorless, but at least she was safe.  
Tasha picked up the phone, she knew what she wanted to do, but she didn't know if she should. Without thinking much, she called one of the few numbers that were registered on the phone.  
"Hello!" Reade woke up startled by the ringing of the phone.  
"Hi, it's me." Tasha on the other side of the line kinda embarrassed for waking him up.  
"It's all right? Are the agents there? What happened?" He got up quickly and was getting ready to leave.  
"It's all right, yes. It's nothing, sorry if I woke you up."  
"You scared me. No problem, I thought something had "Do "I'm going, now I've woken up, I don't even know if I can sleep after this fright." you want me to go there?" He asked on impulse. "I mean, I can have a drink." happened." He sat down with relief.  
"Good to know you care about me." She said with a small smile.  
"Ever. What happened to you calling me?"  
"Nothing, I was just not sleepy and I'm stuck here, I can't go out and take a walk." She spoke in dismay.  
"Don't even think. Be still there, we don't know if Madeline is looking for you."  
"Be calm, I'm not going anywhere."  
"Do you want me to go there?" He asked on impulse. "I mean, I can have a drink."  
"No need, you can go back to sleep."  
"I'm going, now I've woken up, I don't even know if I can sleep after this fright."  
"I'm sorry." She said without much regret.  
"Never mind, I do not care. I'm going."

Tasha was nervous waiting for Reade. They hadn't talked for a long time, and they weren't very close. There was a knock on the door and was the agent responsible for his safety.

"Miss Zapata, Mr. Reade is here and wants to talk to you." The agent said.  
"All right, you can let him in." She consented.  
"They almost won't let me in." Reade laughed as he entered.  
"It was your orders." She laughed too.  
"Yeah, they were. I brought you a drink, so maybe you can sleep." He said showing the bottle of whiskey with more than half the drink.  
Tasha took the glasses and he served them. They toasted and Tasha drank much of the contents in one gulp, closing her eyes and letting the alcohol penetrate her veins.  
"Hey, take it easy! You're going to get drunk." He warned.  
"What, I just need to relax a bit to sleep, remember?" She said.  
"I'd like to apologize for everything." She said looking at him.  
"It's all right. I should have understood that you were doing your job, but instead I blew up and told you horrible things." He said regretfully.  
"I deserved it, after all, that I left without any satisfaction, without answering your phone calls."

They sat on the couch and continued drinking and talking, some times they flirted and bumping into each other for wanting. The bottle was almost over and Tasha felt the alcohol in her body.

"I think I'd better stop." She said putting the glass on the coffee table.  
"I also have to work in the morning." He put his glass on the table, too.  
Reade got up and Tasha got up too.  
"I'm leaving. I'll let you sleep."  
"Don't go yet." Tasha glared at him.  
"Do you want me to stay?" He glared at her.  
"Yeah, you can sleep on the couch. Or you sleep in bed and I sleep on the couch." She released his arm and ran a hand through her hair, half awkward.  
Reade lifted her chin and said looking at her.  
"I want to stay." He pulled her to him and kissed her. Tasha hugged him and let him take the kiss.  
A long time ago they wanted it, but her sudden departure made them move away, so many things happened in this interval that they didn't even know if they could get over it and have another chance to try again. The proximity they were now could have been spurred by the amount of alcohol they ingested that only made the inevitable happen.  
"I'm not sleeping on the couch." He said as he broke off the kiss.  
"I'm not going either." She said smiling.  
They went to the bedroom and loved each other until they were exhausted. They slept. It couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or the company of each other that made them sleep so quickly, but the truth is that along with Reade, Tasha felt safe and at home.

She was still asleep when Reade woke up. He made up without making a noise, but he didn't want to leave and leave her like that. He moved closer and touched her cheek, calling softly so as not to frighten her.  
"Hey, Tasha. Wake up."  
"Um. Hi." She replied sleepily.  
"I have to go, I need to go home."  
"It's all right." She said as she sat on the bed. "I have a private driver." She laughed at the agents outside.  
"We meet at the FBI." He came over and pulled her to him and kissed her.

They didn't know when they would be able to arrest Madeline so that Tasha could walk the streets safely, but they would try to do it together and she swore to herself that she would never again hide anything from Reade or the FBI team, since she already knew the consequences for all the times she had hidden something from them.


End file.
